Ruined Tower of Zenopus Goes Mithral!

Find it here

I haven't had much free time lately, hence the dearth of posts, but here's a quick update on the Ruined Tower of Zenopus 5E conversion/expansion: last week it achieved Mithral Best Seller status (2,501+ copies sold) on DMs Guild! A big thank you to every one who has purchased it over the years.

It was originally released on January 22nd, 2020, which means that it's been out for more than 5 years now! Naturally, it sold most quickly right after release, achieving Platinum status (1,001+) in less than one year. The remaining sales accumulated slowly over the intervening four plus years. The next (and final) badge is Adamantine at 5,001+ sales, which is double the Mithral level; for those curious, you can see all of the badge levels here. To reach this it will need to sell additional copies in an amount equal to what has already been sold. So, it will probably take more than 5 more years, if ever, before it earns the final level.

The adventure remains at its original price of $1.99, and I have no plans to increase the price.

I've made a few updates to it over the years following the original release, which are all noted on the product page linked below. These mainly concern maps that I added, plus a piece of original art by Chris Holmes. If you purchased an earlier version, you should be able to go back and get the updated version. The most recent update, in October 2024, was merely to the product page to add the "Greyhawk" setting tag when DMs Guild opened up that setting for creative content. While the original module is not set in any specific setting other than Portown, the conversion includes a section on using the adventure with Ghosts of Saltmarsh, which is set along the Keoland coast of Greyhawk.

What's next for the Zenopus Archives? When I have more time, I hope to return to work on preparing the Forgotten Smugglers' Cave adventure for publication.

Product Link:
The Ruined Tower of Zenopus on DMs Guild

Click here to read reviews of the RTOZ by various bloggers

A Return to Greyhawk!

"Behold Greyhawk" by Bruce Brenneise for the new DMG

A few days ago DMs Guild announced that Greyhawk is now available a campaign setting for community content:

This is because the newly revised 5E DMG, out November 11th, includes a 30-page chapter on detailing Greyhawk as a sample setting to show DMs how they can create their own settings. This will include a map of the City of Greyhawk and an updated version of Darlene's famous map of the setting:

Harking back to the Sample Dungeons of yore, the DMG will also contain a chapter of Sample Adventures that are set in Greyhawk.

Watch here for an 18 minute interview with Chris Perkins and James Wyatt about thoughts behind using Greyhawk as a sample campaign setting in the new DMG.

While WOTC may not support this setting any further, allowing it to be added to DMs Guild opens it up to fans who wish to add more content to the setting (albeit only in 5E form).

I don't have any specific plans at the moment for creating Greyhawk content for DMsGuild, but I have updated the Ruined Tower of Zenopus conversion/expansion to tag it as Greyhawk (as opposed to just "nonspecific/any setting"), given that I have an appendix in it on using it with the Ghosts of Saltmarsh, which draws its mini-setting details from Greyhawk.

The new DMG is available for order on Amazon.

GM's Day Sale at DMs Guild

DMs Guild and DrivethruRPG are running a GM's Day sale, with products up to 40% off.

This means that The Ruined Tower of Zenopus is on sale for $1.19 through March 10th.

Get it here:

The Ruined Tower of Zenopus at DMs Guild

Most of the classic TSR titles are included in the sale. For example, the Rules Cyclopedia print print and pdf is $26 instead of $35. Find it here:

Basic/OD&D in PDF

Basic/OD&D in Print

AD&D 1E in PDF

AD&D 1E in Print

Gamma World 1E in Print

OSR Products

The Ruined Tower of Zenopus: Printer-Friendly Player's Map file added

Printer-Friendly Player's Map for the Ruined Tower of Zenopus

Just a quick note that I've added a new file to the set of files for The Ruined Tower of Zenopus on DMs Guild. A customer recently requested a printer-friendly version of the dungeon map that was added in the last update to the PDF. I looked in my files, and I had actually already created this sort of map, so I uploaded it as a separate file that can be downloaded with purchase. A preview is shown above.

This brings the set of files included for download to four: (1) the PDF of the adventure, which includes the printer-friendly DM's Map; (2) the new printer-friendly Player's Map; (3) VTT/Roll20 version of the DM's Map with black background; and (4) VTT/Roll20 version of the Player's Map with black background. 

BTW, the adventure itself is currently on sale until March 13th for $1.39 as part of DMs Guild's annual GM's Day sale.

Get the Ruined Tower of Zenopus here on DMs Guild!

The Ruined Tower of Zenopus: September Starter Sale

DMs Guild is having a "September Starter Sale", with select introductory adventures up to 30% off through September 7th, and The Ruined Tower of Zenopus has been selected, so it is currently only $1.39!

As a reminder, if you missed the announcement last fall, the pdf now includes a full-page illustration by Chris Holmes (son of J. Eric Holmes) and a printer-friendly dungeon map. The purchase also includes a separate png file of the dungeon map suitable for VTTs (optimized for Roll20).

For old-school enthusiasts, here on the blog I also offered notes on retro-converting it:

Running It Retro, Part I 

Running It Retro, Part II

The adventure went Platinum back in January (1,001 sales), and is now close to 1,500 sales. However, the next badge (Mithril) at DMs Guild doesn't come until 2,501 sales are hit.

Find it here:
The Ruined Tower of Zenopus on DMs Guild

Click here to read reviews of the RTOZ by various bloggers 

Now at DMsGuild: Chainmail POD & July Sale

CHAINMAIL by Gary Gygax and Jeff Perren is now back "in print"...! 

Thanks to JeffB over at ODD74 for letting us know that DMs Guild and DrivethruRPG are now offering a Print-on-Demand option for Chainmail.

Get it here:

Chainmail in POD and/or PDF at DMs Guild

Or here:

Chainmail in POD and/or PDF at DrivethruRPG

As I wrote over on ODD74, from the preview, the version of Chainmail they are offering is a 3rd Edition (copyright 1975), 7th printing (April 1979), and scanned from an original rather than re-typeset like most of the OD&D booklets they are currently offering. This version is from after the Tolkien references (Hobbits/Ents/Balrogs) were altered or removed.

The print plus digital version costs the same as the print version alone, $6.99. I've ordered a copy, and will report on quality when it arrives. The total with tax and media mail shipping was $11.91.

According to Chris Holmes, his father purchased Chainmail along with the LBBs, Greyhawk, Warlock and the Dungeon boardgame from Aero Hobbies shortly after they learned about the game (Tales of Peril, page 328). And Holmes had his copy handy while preparing the Basic rulebook, as is evident from the entry for Giants, which states, "There are several ways to calculate catapult (giant) fire. This one is adapted from CHAIN MAIL", and by his inclusion of the Parry rule from Chainmail that didn't appear elsewhere in OD&D (See Part 17 of my Holmes Manuscript series).

The published rulebook also directly references Chainmail in Gary Gygax's Foreword, which is carried over from Vol 1 of the original rulebooks: "From the CHAINMAIL fantasy rules he drew ideas for a far more complex and exciting game, and thus began a campaign that still thrives as of this writing!" Chainmail also appears in the TSR product listings appearing in the back of the Holmes Basic rulebook. 

This means that I personally have known about Chainmail since the days of my original Holmes Basic set. This led me to purchase a copy, the same edition being offered now, directly from the TSR Mail Order Hobby Shop in the late '80s. I later sold this on Ebay in the late '90s when trying to downsize my collection (ha!), and later regretted that, but soon I will have a copy again.

See also:

Chainmail Announcement from Domesday Book #9

* * * * * * * * * *

Also at DMs Guild and DrivethruRPG is their annual Xmas in July sale, with many products 25% off, which means that the The Ruined Tower of Zenopus is just $1.49 until the end of the month.

Get it here:

The Ruined Tower of Zenopus at DMs Guild

Most of the classic TSR titles are included in the sale, at least in PDF format, including the PDF of Chainmail (but not the new POD). Most of the in-print stuff is not, although I note that the Rules Cyclopedia in print is $21 instead of $25.

Basic/OD&D in PDF

Basic/OD&D in Print

AD&D 1E in PDF

AD&D 1E in Print

Gamma World 1E in Print

OSR Products

(All links include my DMsGuild/DrivethruRPG affiliate number)

Holmes Day 2021

Today marks the 91st anniversary of the birth of J. Eric Holmes in 1930. Above is a picture that Chris Holmes sent me a while back for the J. Eric Holmes Photo Gallery, which I will be adding to it shortly. Chris doesn't have a specific date but thinks it is from the late '50s or early '60s.

Some "Holmesian Highlights" of the past year for me, in roughly chronological order:

On Leap Day, just before the pandemic hit, helping the Scrum Club put on its second Scrum Con, including running a session In Search of the Brazen Head of Zenopus. A bit of new news: Scrum Con may return later this year in virtual form!

Being a guest on the Wandering DMs Chat show on YT, talking about the original Sample Dungeon and my 5E conversion.

Releasing three new reference sheets for Holmes Ref, including an Equipment Sheet, "Rolling Up An Adventurer" and a Dungeoneering Reference Sheet.

Chris Holmes being a guest on the Appendix N podcast and being interviewed by the newly resurgent Grognardia.

In the summer, running an all too brief series of D&D games for my kids, exploring B1. To be continued?

The publisher of The Maze of Peril starting to sell copies from the original 1986 printing on Amazon, making it much easier to obtain a copy.

Reviewing Sunny Rolls the Dice by Jennifer L. Holm and Matthew Holm (no relation to J. Eric Holmes), the most recent installment in a coming-of-age series of graphic novels, and one that prominently features D&D and Holmes Basic.

Discovering that an audio recording of "Frontiers in Brain Research", a lecture that Holmes gave at Worldcon 36 in 1978 (aka IguanaCon) was available for download on the internet. This is a real treat if you missed it at the time!

Watching the success of The Ruined Tower of Zenopus, my first "commercial" project, on DMs Guild over the year, as it earned a Platinum badge. A big thank you to everyone who took the time to review it! 

"Octopus Attack" by Chris Holmes for The Ruined Tower of Zenopus

Updating the RTOZ adventure twice during the year, first to add a map file for Roll20/VTT (essential during the pandemic), and then to add a printer-friendly map, and best of all, a commissioned illustration by Chris Holmes.

Being interviewed by Bart Carroll for the D&D Classics Column in issue #32 of Dragon+, the on-line successor to Dragon Magazine!

The Lurker in the Grotto by Lore Suto

Trying something new on the blog: writing an adventure, The Forgotten Smugglers' Cave, in installments, area-by-area. I've been lucky to have a talented artist, Lore Suto, volunteer to provide art for the series. This is still in the progress, with Area #7 being posted last week, and the next one coming soon!

Please leave comments below on anything of interest from the past year or that you are looking forward to: Holmesian games you've run or played in, or are planning to; stories of starting D&D with Holmes Basic; etc

See also: Holmes Day 2020

Note:

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

The Ruined Tower of Zenopus Goes Platinum!

 

I meant to post this earlier, but last month the Ruined Tower of Zenopus achieved Platinum Best Seller status (1001+ copies sold) on DMs Guild. The burst of interest from the in-depth video review by captcorajus put it over the top just before holidays. Thanks, cap!

The Ruined Tower was released on January 22nd, 2020, which means that this Friday marks its one-year anniversary. I'll make another post then to mark the occasion.

Product Link:
The Ruined Tower of Zenopus on DMs Guild

Click here to read reviews of the RTOZ by various bloggers

The Ruined Tower of Zenopus: Cyber Monday sale

I didn't notice it until just now, but DMs Guild is having a Black Friday/Cyber Monday sale, and The Ruined Tower of Zenopus is included, so it currently only $1.59.

Their page for the sale says there is just under 17 hours left.

As a reminder, if you missed the recent announcement, the pdf has been updated to include a full-page illustration by Chris Holmes (son of J. Eric Holmes) and a printer-friendly dungeon map. Purchase also includes a separate png file of the dungeon map suitable for VTTs (optimized for Roll20).

And it looks like a lot of the classic D&D titles at Drivethrurpg are also included in the sale. See links to some of these categories in the right sidebar of this blog.

Find it here:
The Ruined Tower of Zenopus on DMs Guild

Click here to read reviews of the RTOZ by various bloggers

The Ruined Tower of Zenopus: Updated!

Attention all: The Ruined Tower of Zenopus has been updated!

Today, I uploaded a revised version (designated Version 2.0) to DMs Guild. As with the last update, the updated pdf should be available to anyone who previously purchased the adventure. In fact, DMs Guild should have sent you a notification that the product has been updated.

Two pages have been added, bringing the total to 20 pages. The new pages are:

(1) A full-page illustration by J. Eric Holmes' son, Chris Holmes...!

I commissioned this fantastic new work from Chris (who has his own website here) and it depicts the octopus from Room M battling a party in one of the pirate rowboats. Here is a thumbnail sneak-peak; see the adventure for the full-sized illustration:

(2) A Printer-Friendly Dungeon Map. Back in May, I added two separate dungeon map files to the product, drawn using the application Gridmapper by Alex Schroeder. I have now revised the PDF itself to include a version of this DM's Map. I removed the black background and redid the lettering to improve legibility. Again, just a sneak peek here:

Find the updated adventure here:
The Ruined Tower of Zenopus on DMs Guild

Click here to read reviews of the RTOZ by various bloggers

July Sale at DMs Guild and DrivethruRPG

DMs Guild and DrivethruRPG are having a big Christmas in July sale, with many products 25% off.

This means that The Ruined Tower of Zenopus is on sale for $1.49 until the end of July!

Get it here:

The Ruined Tower of Zenopus at DMs Guild

If you missed the announcement previously, it now includes a Roll20/VTT-friendly file of the Zenopus dungeon, which previous purchasers can go back and get.

Most of the classic TSR titles are included in the sale, at least in PDF format. Most of the in-print stuff is not, although I note that the Rules Cyclopedia in print is $21 instead of $25.

Basic/OD&D in PDF

Basic/OD&D in Print

AD&D 1E in PDF

AD&D 1E in Print

Gamma World 1E in Print

OSR Products

A Dungeon Map is now included with the Ruined Tower of Zenopus on DMs Guild!

Screenshot of the new Dungeon Master's Map for The Ruined Tower of Zenopus

The Ruined Tower of Zenopus now includes a map of the dungeon!

Yesterday I uploaded two separate dungeon map files to the Ruined Tower of Zenopus page on DMs Guild (as previously teased). These should be available for download by anyone who has already purchased the module, and for any new purchases. If you go to your account on DMs Guild there is a section near the top that says "Updated Files", which hopefully will show this product as updated on May 26th. 

This map is derived from the map I made in Gridmapper a few years ago and posted here.

The two maps are variations of the same map; the first is a Dungeon Master's Map, a preview of which is shown above, and the second is a Player's Map. In addition to being labeled differently, the Player's Map has the room letters removed, along with the secret doors and corridor between Rooms S and F.

Each map comes as a png file with a size of 8400 pixels by 8190 pixels, a large size that is optimized for use in Roll20, but is also printable. See the notes for each use below. Each file is a little over 4 MB. 

Each square on the map(s) is 10' wide, as in the original. A few corridors are not to scale due to the limitations of Gridmapper (or perhaps my lack of skill in using it). The secret corridor between Rooms S and F should only be 5' wide, and the rat tunnels should only be 3' wide (I noted the latter on the map). 

Using in Roll20:

-Create a New Game. The Zoom should be set to 100% by default, but set it to that if not.

-Click on the Page Toolbar icon. There should be a Page called "Start". Hover your mouse over it and a gear will appear to the left titled "Page Settings". Click and a "Page Settings" menu will open. Change the Settings as follows: 

-Under "Page Size", set the Width to 60 and the Height to 58.5. Under "Cell Width", change the size from 1 to 0.5. 

-Leave the Page Toolbar by clicking on the page called "Start". Now go to the toolbar on the left, and click on the "pin" icon (second from top). A menu will open. Change from Objects and Tokens to "Maps & Background". If you don't do this, your map will import as a token and the grid will not overlay the map.

-Again confirm Zoom is set to 100%. Drag the map file (the DM's or Player's Map) from your desktop (or folder) to the Roll20 Page workspace. This will import the map. In the workspace, drag the map until the upper left corner of the imported map is exactly aligned with the upper left corner of the workspace. This should line up the map exactly with four 5' squares inside each 10' square on the map.

-You can change the color of the grid in the Page Toolbar if you'd like the 5' squares to be darker or lighter (you can even set them to white so they are invisible).

-Note if you are using the Player's Map, you will need to add the Secret Passage between Rooms F and S if the PCs find it. This can be done either by drawing it on the map using the Roll20 drawing tools, or I think you can cut and paste the corridor from the DM's Map and import it into Roll20 and overlay it on the map in the appropriate spot.

Printing the Map: The map can be printed on a sheet of paper, but be warned that since the background is black and fills the negative space, it will use a lot of black ink or toner. The map file is only 75 dpi but is so large it should print at a fine resolution when shrunk to the sheet of a paper. I tested this and it printed fine using a "Shrink to Fit" setting, which was about 7% of the original size.

I hope to make a more printer-friendly option available in the future.

Product Link:
The Ruined Tower of Zenopus on DMs Guild

Click here to read reviews of the RTOZ by various bloggers

The Ruined Tower of Zenopus Goes Gold!

Interest in the The Ruined Tower of Zenopus has remained fairly steady at DMs Guild over the last few months, no doubt aided by the forced increase in screen time everyone is subjected to during these days of quarantine, and (in the last week) the sale at DMs Guild I posted about earlier this week. As a result the adventure has now hit another DMs Guild milestone: Gold Best Seller...!

As a thank you to everyone who has purchased the adventure, and to help it be more useful for on-line play during these dark days, I will soon be adding a re-drawn map as a separate file. DMs Guild allows redrawn maps as long as they support a product rather than being sold alone. Everyone who has already purchased the product should be able to download the new map for free.

This map is derived from the map I made in Gridmapper a few years ago and posted here. I've tested and found it very suitable for import into Roll20, and have optimized the size for aligning with the grids in their interface. I've also made DM and Player versions, so there will actually be two map files of this sort.

I've also been working on a hand-drawn map that will be more printer-friendly than the original or the Gridmapper map.

Product Link:
The Ruined Tower of Zenopus on DMs Guild

Click here to read reviews of the RTOZ by various bloggers

The Ruined Tower of Zenopus is on sale this week

DMs Guild is having a "Play It Forward" promotion through this Sunday (May 17th), which gives each author of a purchased product 100% of the revenue instead of the usual 50%. Furthermore, many products are 20% off, and the Ruined Tower of Zenopus is one of these selected items, which means it is currently only $1.59!


Product Link:
The Ruined Tower of Zenopus on DMs Guild

Click here to read reviews of the RTOZ by various bloggers

The Ruined Tower of Zenopus goes Electrum!

The Ruined Tower of Zenopus hit Electrum Best Seller status on DMs Guild last week! I've updated the image on the product page to include the Electrum badge; this is shown above but won't show up on the actual purchased pdf.

It's currently on sale for $1.79 as part of the site-wide sale for DM's Day (March 4th, the anniversary of the passing of Gary Gygax), which runs through the 15th.

Again, a big thank you to everyone who has purchased it, plus an even bigger thank you to those who have taken the time to write out a review it, including:

Old School Tumblr
Erik Jensen via Twitter
Noah at the Hapless Henchmen
Joel at the Abominable Fancy 

And any others I'm forgetting at the moment!

If you have purchased and have a moment, it could use more Ratings and short Reviews on the DMs Guild site itself.

If you missed it, I was recently on the Wandering DMs chatting live about the Ruined Tower, and it is was recorded.

Product Link:
The Ruined Tower of Zenopus on DMs Guild